Why rebooting a computer fixes some problems

Q. I recently contacted you about a problem I was having and your response was to ask if I had rebooted the computer. Well, I rebooted the computer and the problem went away. My question now is: Why is a reboot so often the fix for so many computer problems?

A. In my time as a computer problem solver, I have found that a reboot of a computer system is the solution to a large percentage of computer problems.

Any time that you experience problems such as a degradation in performance or random system and application crashes, the first thing you should do is simply reboot the computer.

The reason this works is that it simply resets everything. As we launch and then close applications, sometimes they don’t shut down completely or release the system resources they were using when they were running. This is especially true when it comes to system memory.

When you reboot your computer, it clears the memory and cleans up certain temp files and caches that were being used and basically give the computer a fresh start.

Obviously, a reboot is not the fix for every computer problem. But it should be on the top of your list when diagnosing and troubleshooting many computer issues.

In fact, most technicians won’t even consider looking into a problem until at least one reboot has been attempted.